If there is one thing I’ve inherited from my mother, it’s the fact that I hate having to learn about new technology.
Unfortunately, she makes me learn on her behalf so that I can give her the shortened and condensed version for ease-of-access.
Well, that’s how I see it, but she claims it’s just faster and easier if I do it for her – which sounds a lot like the reversal of my childhood.
In fact, there might be some carefully queued up flashback memories where I vividly remember asking for her to do something for me because it was faster when she did it than when I bumbled through it.
I’m sure there’s also some sort of similar universal memory that most children share that reflects my recollection.
However, mom just tells me that those – were – easy tasks and would now take me the same amount of time as her now that I’m an adult.
Her sage wisdom back then was that things seeming to be difficult at first can become easier over time the more we do them.
Of course, now when I’m parroting the same mantra back at her, I’m stonewalled because as her child I need to just do it and be helpful since she’s getting on in years – or something like that.
I digress - my old cellphone has been acting up for the past few months and I’ve been stubbornly resisting changing over to a newer model.
It’s hard to pare down the 50-plus gigabytes of files I have saved in order to transition to the new model.
I’ve got everything from pictures of dearly departed pets to recipes and an assortment of jokes or memes – how do I pick only my favorites out of 5,000 some odd things?!
Then there’s the most boring parts of setting up a new phone – the updates.
Such a backlog of updates to firmware, software and the like could take nearly an hour and that’s not entirely including apps!
And, God help me, but I’m so guilty of just using a passkey and staying logged in to my email or social media hubs that I may have forgotten which password goes where.
There are also applications that will trigger security reviews that I’ll have to accept or deny on the computer or another device and those just end up adding to the tedium.
Not to mention, that all hinges on the off-chance that I don’t have to call AT&T customer support and try not to breathe fire through the phone while tech support helps validate my new SIM card.
Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m sure once I manage to get everything ironed out, there will still be a learning curve.
But, the overall benefits are going to outweigh the pain and frustration I’ll be enduring once it’s all said and done.
It’s just the initial hurdle of starting the ball rolling that irks me to no end and makes me want to smash my cellphone with a hammer.
I do take comfort in the fact that at least I’m troubleshooting and dragging my Samsung through the “Pit of Despair” rather than trying to figure out Apple’s latest iPhone, I’ve dubbed as the “Infernal Contraption.”
Just don’t expect me to be able to access my text messages, emails, or voicemails for at least a month until I learn all the new shortcuts and placements that I need to function!